• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • EMC Offers Hardware-Based HA Alternative

    July 24, 2007 Alex Woodie

    While EMC is best known in the System i world as the platform’s only other provider of external disk besides IBM, a surprising number of EMC’s System i customers also utilize the company’s high availability offerings. What’s more, customers can use EMC’s HA and DR offerings, called TimeFinder and SRDF, not only to augment their System i servers, but to protect their Unix, Linux, NetWare, and Windows servers, thereby reducing complexity while boosting resiliency.

    There was a time when only the biggest shops in the land could afford to even think about investing in a storage area network (SAN), such as EMC’s Symmetrix arrays. With price tags that start in the mid six digits and range upward into the tens of millions of dollars, the move to a centralized storage architecture is not to be taken lightly.

    But times have changed. Today, mid size organizations are facing many of the same problems that the largest shops dealt with five and 10 years ago, such as the proliferation of server operating systems and an ever-increasing volume of data to store. Some mid size businesses are also affected by new industry mandates requiring more precise management of data, which further pushes shops toward central storage.

    And of course, external disk brings capabilities for high availability (HA) replication and disaster recovery (DR), which are things that companies of all sizes are dealing with. After all, when an organization has consolidated all of its data assets for multiple, disparate applications and server platforms, it behooves them to avoid having a single point of failure. EMC has been offering hardware-based HA and DR solutions for its Symmetrix customers for many years.

    EMC’s HA and DR solutions for Symmetrix are called TimeFinder and Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF). TimeFinder is EMC’s local replication solution, and as such it is used to minimize server downtime during backups, as well as for copying libraries for testing purposes. When a customer needs to get its Symmetrix data offsite as part of its DR strategy, it employs SRDF, which enables data banked with TimeFinder to be replicated from one Symmetrix array to another.

    EMC offers both synchronous or asynchronous replication with SRDF. Synchronous has the advantage of ensuring that disk writes occur on both the local and remote Symmetrix array at the same time, which eliminates data exposure, but it only works over a short distance, and it also brings a performance hit. Asynchronous replication carries a slight risk of data exposure (because data is first written to the local disk then to the remote disk), but it works over an unlimited distance, and it doesn’t affect performance.

    Customers can mix and match synchronous and asynchronous replication with their SRDF deployments, and whichever solution they chose, EMC offers Symmetrix an array of deployment options, including: bi-directional; source/target swap; one-to-many; many-to-one; and many-to-many replication.

    According to Rick Aguiar, the global practice manager for the System i in EMC’s Global Services division, more than 60 percent of EMC’s System i Symmetrix customers are using TimeFinder or SRDF to boost their availability. Aguiar says EMC sells about 100 to 120 new Symmetrix arrays each year to System i-using customers (both new customers and existing customers). While Aguiar chose not to disclose the size of the System i Symmetrix user base, a rough guess puts it around 500 to 700 System i shops, which means about 300 to 400 System i shops around the world are using EMC’s high availability solutions. That’s not going to challenge Vision Solutions for supremacy in the i5/OS HA market, but it’s a fairly decent user base for an offering that EMC rarely talks about or publicizes.

    That may be a higher number than one would initially expect, but keep in mind that these aren’t “pure-play” System i shops either, according to Aguiar. “These customers are looking to for high availability solutions for their Windows NT or Oracle environments, and at the same time they have an iSeries for some applications, and now they’re looking for a solution for all of those platforms,” he says. “More customers are attracted to hardware-based replication because these are open systems, so everybody in the data center uses the same concepts. … All the storage is on the Symmetrix and we replicate it.”

    Aguiar says there are several advantages to using a hardware-based replication solution such as EMC’s TimeFinder and SRDF compared to software-based high availability solutions, which are sometimes called logical replication solutions, and which Aguiar refers to as journal solutions.

    In particular, Aguiar has seen organizations with large System i deployments struggle to make software-based HA work for them. Getting a good “synch point” can be very difficult to achieve in large deployments, he says, and it’s compounded by the lag time of restarting System i servers–he has seen it take upward of 40 minutes to restart a System i Model 595. Five- to six-hour role swaps are not unheard of. “[The synch point] is a moving target, so they can’t consistently meet that requirement,” he says. “The recovery time for hardware-based HA or DR is much more consistent.”

    But Aguiar does not pretend that EMC’s hardware-based HA will be a panacea for all of a customer’s availability problems. In many cases, a hybrid approach works best, he says. “We don’t suggest we come in and discard what you have. I look at what’s best for the customer,” Aguiar says. “For many customers, it’s the remote replication for DR that’s really a challenge. In many cases, we leave the journal solution in place for HA and do hardware replication for DR.”

    Of course, EMC isn’t the only game in town when it comes to hardware-based replication. IBM also offers hardware-based replication to its System i, System p, and System z customers, through the FlashCopy, MetroMirror, and GlobalMirror solutions that work with its DS8000 series of SAN arrays (see Don’t Overlook Hardware-Based High Availability Alternatives).

    But Aguiar is quick to point out differences between the HA and DR offerings of EMC and IBM. First of all, EMC’s offerings have been on the market several years longer than IBM’s, he says. And he adds, it wasn’t until members of the Large User Group–a group composed of the world’s largest System i customers that has considerable sway with IBM–started using EMC’s storage and replication offerings that IBM figured it had better bone up on external storage.

    That extra time on the market has allowed EMC to build a bigger ecosystem around SRDF and TimeFinder, Aguiar says. “They are much more mature, have been out there much longer, and are accepted easier by open system players,” he says. “EMC has the advantage with its E-Lab certification. We can test and qualify operating systems . . . very quickly, make it a plug and play. So when looking at large customers, once you factor in the NT and Intel architecture, EMC as the advantage.”

    EMC’s Symmetrix arrays also offer technological advantages over IBM’s DS8000 SAN arrays, Aguiar says. While both arrays utilize IBM’s 64-bit Power processors, they have significant architectural differences, he says. Namely, Aguiar points to the Direct Matrix Architecture introduced with the latest DMX series of Symmetrix arrays, which provides throughput up to 64 GB per second. DMX arrays function fine up to the 90 percent rate, which is considerably more than IBM can get out of its DS8300 series, he says. “I think they’re very, very different from a design perspective,” he says.

    RELATED STORIES

    Don’t Overlook Hardware-Based High Availability Alternatives

    EMC Licenses i5 Interfaces from IBM for Symmetrix Support



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags:

    Sponsored By
    COMMON

    COMMON Focus 2007 will be our first annual workshop conference event, featuring three days of intense, focused education. It will be a smaller, more intimate event than a traditional COMMON conference with a limited number of attendees - allowing attendees for more one-on-one interaction with the speakers and each other.

    There will be 15 in-depth, all-day educational workshops offered - both in lab and lecture-style formats - in a wide range of topic areas. Attendees can attend only one workshop per day, providing attendees the opportunity to focus their educational needs on a specific topic each day.

                                    Workshops offered at COMMON Focus 2007 include:

                                    Monday
                                    · Disaster Recovery Primer - Ready, Set, Plan
                                    · Modernizing RPG Applications
                                    · Implementing i5/OS Security
                                    · (LAB): PHP Essentials
                                    · (LAB): WDS and WDSc Guided Tour

                                    Tuesday
                                    · Disaster Recovery Workshop: Be Well Prepared
                                    · All You Need to Know about SQL in Six Hours
                                    · System i Access for Web
                                    · (LAB): IBM System i Navigator Workshop
                                    · (LAB): Hands on VB.net and ASP.net for System i Developers

                                    Wednesday
                                    · Systems Management Workshop
                                    · Beyond the Basics with SQL
                                    · RPG Meets the Web
                                    · (LAB): Optimize Your System i with IBM Performance Management Tools
                                    · (LAB): Using Java to Build System i Web Applications

    COMMON Focus 2007 will kickoff on the evening of Sunday, October 14th
    with a Welcome Reception, where attendees and workshop instructors can meet and network.
    A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided each day, along with several breaks,
    giving attendees time to interact with each other.

    COMMON Focus 2007 will also have a tabletop-style exhibition area, featuring
    a limited number of exhibitors. Attendees will be able to view and get
    hands-on demonstration on the latest System i-related solutions available to them.

    This innovative educational conference promises to be three days of intense learning -
    it is an educational opportunity that you don't want to miss.

    Learn more at www.common.org/focus.

    Sponsored Links

    Maximum Availabilty:  The Ultimate System i Replication for Business of All Sizes
    COMMON:  Join us at the Annual 2008 conference, March 30 - April 3, in Nashville, Tennessee
    New Generation Software:  Leading provider of iSeries BI and financial management software

    IT Jungle Store Top Book Picks

    The System i Pocket RPG & RPG IV Guide: List Price, $69.95
    The iSeries Pocket Database Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket Developers' Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket SQL Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket Query Guide: List Price, $49.00
    The iSeries Pocket WebFacing Primer: List Price, $39.00
    Migrating to WebSphere Express for iSeries: List Price, $49.00
    iSeries Express Web Implementer's Guide: List Price, $59.00
    Getting Started with WebSphere Development Studio for iSeries: List Price, $79.95
    Getting Started With WebSphere Development Studio Client for iSeries: List Price, $89.00
    Getting Started with WebSphere Express for iSeries: List Price, $49.00
    WebFacing Application Design and Development Guide: List Price, $55.00
    Can the AS/400 Survive IBM?: List Price, $49.00
    The All-Everything Machine: List Price, $29.95
    Chip Wars: List Price, $29.95

    Admin Alert: FTPing Save Files from Windows to i5/OS Avoid Large Local Variables in Modules

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Volume 7, Number 28 -- July 24, 2007
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

Bytware
LANSA
COMMON
ARCAD Software
Twin Data

Table of Contents

  • IBM Upgrades High-End System i Server with Power6
  • IBM Previews i5/OS V6R1, Due in 2008
  • EMC Offers Hardware-Based HA Alternative
  • SugarCRM Now Available for i5/OS
  • Vision Ships Update for MIMIX for AIX
  • Cerberus Acquires United Rentals, And With it an i5/OS BI Vendor
  • Ericom Launches Virtual Desktop Solution
  • Wavelink Streamlines OS Upgrade for Barcode Scanners
  • VAI Hooks Up with BCMS for Merchandising System
  • Global Hires Former Infor Manager

Recent Posts

  • Get Your PHP on IBM i, Hold the Zend
  • Syncsort’s Pitney Bowes Deal: All About Good, Clean Data
  • Three IBM i Vendors Who Are Still Announcing Things in 2019
  • Four Hundred Monitor, December 11
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 21, Number 49
  • Moving Off Big Iron? Be Very Careful, Gartner Says
  • Thoroughly Modern: More Than Just A Pretty Face
  • Guru: More End Of Year Feedback
  • As I See It: When Gates Was Young
  • Servers Cool A Bit In Q3, But The Market Is Still Hot

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2019 IT Jungle

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.